For Want of Summer's Day
by Onhiro
Summary: Ruby visits the Cliffside Altar after her first tumultuous semester at Beacon so that she can tell her mom about her adventures.


**AN- So, RWBY is awesome, and the series gets better with each episode. Pacing is excellent, and the mix between drama, action, and comedy is perfect. This little ficlet was spawned while watching the Red Trailer. 'Why is Summer's grave in such a hard to reach place?' I asked myself, and then the wheels began to turn. Short answer, only the worthy can visit her and the site of her last battle and death. This story is set during the winter break between Season 1 and Season 2, and Ruby visits the Cliffside Altar to talk to her mom about her semester. Short and to the point. And yes, I am continuing my other RWBY fanfic, though the next chapter will probably be published in a new story of its own.**

**Read, enjoy, and please review!**

**For Want of Summer's Day**

Ruby stared down at the engraved stone at her feet, the strong wind coming from the yawning cliff in front of her flaring her cape out behind her with howling gusts. What she wouldn't give for just one more minute, one more moment with her! Distant, time blurred memories of warm cookies with sweet, gooey chocolate chips given by the one person that had always represented warmth, love, and safety flickered through her mind's eye, and Ruby couldn't help the choked sob that clawed its way out of her throat. "Mom, I miss you so much!" she croaked as the tears began to course down her cheeks.

How long had it been since she had forgotten what she had looked like? She could clearly see the white cloak as she left her for the last time, going on that last hunt, the one she never returned from. She could remember the strong arms, hardened by years of being a huntress, holding her close, holding her safe, but she couldn't remember her mother's face. She clenched her teeth, reminding herself that there was a reason why she had come here.

"Mom, I made it to Beacon, just like I always wanted!" she gasped, forcing herself to speak through her tears, the tears that always came when she visited. "We're on winter break, and I have so much I want to tell you." She paused, gathering her thoughts, and almost wishing that she'd get an answer, an answer that would never come. No comforting voice on the whistling, howling wind, only snow and winter's cruel, cold breath. "I can't believe I was made a team leader, even being two year ahead of my class at Signal! At first I was scared and lost, but Yang is on my team, and she's been such a big help. But all of my team is awesome and so strong. We have Blake, who has really cute cat ears 'cause she's a faunus and she has shadow clones that help her fight, and they're like pow pow pow and it's awesome! And Weiss, at first she was so stuck up, but she's the best team member ever, and her Dust spells are so cool, even for an ice princess...heh, get it?"

She snickered at her joke, not even noticing that her tears had ended, dried up in the happy memories of her first semester at Beacon. She didn't know it, but she was completely different from the scared, lonely girl who had become terribly withdrawn, focusing on weapons that could kill the monsters of Grimm that took her mother from her, allow her to help others, protect them so that no one would have to feel that crippling pain that had torn her heart apart rather than on people, people who could be taken from her, just like her mother. The warmth of the friendship of the others had done wonders to return her to the irrepressible, bubbly girl that had yearned to escape the suffocating blackness of death, of abandonment.

And so she continued to talk, telling her mother of the wacky adventures that she had gone through, of killing the Nevermore, of working with team JNPR, of being really, truly challenged by her schoolwork. An hour and more passed as she told her mother of her life. But finally, her scroll chimed, and she glanced at it. "Sorry, mom, but I've got to go. Yang wants to hang out, and dad is planning a get together with Uncle Qrow later, and I don't want to be late."

She stood, ignoring the damp patches on her knees. She glanced longingly at the engraved rose on the tombstone. "Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter," she murmured to herself, well aware of the rose petals flying into the wind behind her, scattered by her cloak. "Would that I could have just one more Summer's day with you, mom." She gave a sad, small smile, and then turned, heading back into the dark forest where _they_ waited for her and Crescent Rose. She would be more than glad to answer their savage challenge. After all, only the worthy could visit her mother!

So focused was she on the coming fight, that she didn't see the silent, still figure clad in a white cloak standing behind the grave, watching her with a proud smile, a smile tinged with a sadness that transcended death itself.

_Take care and be safe, my beautiful Ruby Rose. I will wait for you here, always._ With one last gust of wind and flash of rose petals, the figure was gone, only a sense of pride and regret both lingering with the last petals floating down, smelling of summer days.


End file.
